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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28810089">A tart from me to you</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/nobeliumoxygenoxygen/pseuds/nobeliumoxygenoxygen'>nobeliumoxygenoxygen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Banter, Fluff, Multi, Secret Santa Fic, mlsecretsanta</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:40:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,411</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28810089</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/nobeliumoxygenoxygen/pseuds/nobeliumoxygenoxygen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Chloe Bourgeois attempts to make an orange tart for her girlfriend, Kagami.</p><p>Only she hasn’t baked or cooked anything since she was five, it is not going so well, but it’s a good thing she has some good friends.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Chloé Bourgeois/Kagami Tsurugi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A tart from me to you</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>My @mlsecretsanta gift fic for @snail-noir on tumblr!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chloe Bourgeois did not like to admit she was in the wrong, nor did she like to admit she had failed something.</p><p>In this case, however, there was really no other way of explaining it.</p><p>Strewn around her kitchen counters and floor were ingredients and equipment for an orange tart that she had, mistakenly, assumed to be a simple task to make. The website had certainly made it <em>seem </em>simple enough, with a preparation time of twenty minutes and a cooking time of forty-five.</p><p>Although, if she was honest, she hadn’t been expecting it to be easy in the first place. She’d never baked or cooked anything in her seventeen years of living (at least not since she was five and had made breakfast in bed for her mother on Mother’s day only to be critiqued on every aspect and then forced to watch as her mother pointedly asked Jean for a ‘real breakfast’).</p><p>Chloe just hadn’t thought it would be impossible.</p><p>“This is ridiculous,” She muttered, ripping into the dough with unnecessary force. “You’re supposed to become a ball! Why—ridiculous, utterly ridiculous,” She huffed, crossing her arms and glaring at the recipe on her laptop screen. <em>Toss gently until it forms a ball that holds together</em>, the recipe read. She’d done <em>exactly </em>that and the ball was… not holding together. Probably reflective of how well <em>she </em>was holding together.</p><p>Glancing at the clock, Chloe chewed on the inside of her cheek; 10:10. The others were due to arrive any minute to help prepare for Kagami and Adrien’s surprise lunch celebrating their advancement into the national fencing semi-finals. It was a small occasion; only her, Marinette, Nino, and Alya would be there, but Chloe still didn’t like the fact that she’d end up having nothing to give since her orange tart was going <em>so </em>well. Sure, she was the one offering her room as the venue, but that wasn’t much when it was due to the fact that no one could really offer space themselves.</p><p>And she was a little disappointed considering she’d wanted to make this orange tart, one of Kagami’s favourite kind of tarts, herself. As a show of, maybe, being a good girlfriend.</p><p>“Oh, forget it,” She hissed, slamming the laptop shut before washing her hands to leave the kitchen in disgrace. She’d compose herself first and clean it up before the guests of honour arrived.</p><p>Only the doorbell rang and Chloe nearly cried out in frustration. She hadn’t even had time to consider whether she’d compose herself on her couch or her bed.</p><p>“Coming, coming,” She called out, getting to the door and opening it to see her friends. In Marinette’s arms was a tray of pastries, as expected from their resident baker; in Alya’s, a box of what she assumed were decorations whereas Nino held the board games they’d all brought. There were bright smiles on their faces that Chloe desperately attempted to match because regardless of however she was going, she wasn’t going to let anything ruin Kagami lunch. Waving them in quickly, she shut the door after them.</p><p>“Hey girl, you ready to start decorating?” Alya asked as the other two started moving further into her apartment, talking to each other, so different to the first time they’d all come over (they’d all waited behind Adrien and Kagami the first time, all pretending to be so immersed by her apartment). Chloe was glad they had all become more comfortable with each other (although she knew it would have happened sooner if she’d only been a lot nicer, but that was a conversation that had already happened).</p><p>She clapped her hands excitedly. “Of course! This has to be <em>perfect </em>for Kagami, I won’t accept anything less for her,” She announced, hands on hips. Truthfully, she was a little nervous, hoping that all of this would make her girlfriend happy.</p><p>“Aren’t you forgetting someone?” Alya asked teasingly as she walked past her to set the boxes on the couch.</p><p>Chloe furrowed her eyebrows, about to retort who could possibly be more important than her girlfriend when Nino interrupted, “Don’t forget this is for Adrien too, dude.”</p><p><em>Oh, right</em>. “I—of course I haven’t forgotten! I just—” She stopped at the soft giggling from the other three, flushing from embarrassment over such a mistake (in her defence, Adrikins was old news).</p><p>“Sometimes I think you’re just as bad as Marinette, just in a different way,” Alya said, getting cries of outrage from both girls. “Please, you’re both so head over heels for your partners—!” She laughed, shaking her head at them.</p><p>Chloe gaped at the journalist intern (similarities between her and Marinette were rare; not that her vendetta against the baker was ongoing, but it was still rather jarring to be compared to Marinette of all people), but one glance at other girl in question, also staring with a hanging mouth, had them both snapping their jaws shut and turning away.</p><p>If anything, it only made Alya laugh harder, holding onto the couch for support. Nino coughed, but no one could deny the smile that tugged at his lips.</p><p>“I—me and <em>Chloe</em>?”</p><p>“That’s ridiculous—utterly ridiculous!”</p><p>“As if you’re not as bad as us Alya!” Marinette retorted, marching to her best friend. “Do you remember just how long it took for you to finally decide on the best anniversary date idea? We spent days on deciding the location alone!”</p><p>Nino perked up on that, looking at his girlfriend with renewed vigour as Alya gasped, affronted. “Marinette! You promised not to tell!”</p><p>“W-well that was before you said that!”</p><p>Chloe smirked, crossing her arms smugly. “Oh so you think <em>you’re </em>immune to teasing?”</p><p>Alya rolled her eyes, smirking right back. “Please, I’m immune to <em>your </em>teasing, girl. Had plenty of practice.” She grinned, leaving Chloe to pout. It was mostly true; after befriending them all, her words had very little effect on them. Although, she supposed that was how a friendship worked.</p><p>“Alright, we should probably get back to fixing everything… the other two will be arriving in about an hour if their family celebration ends on time,” Nino reminded them, ever the patient one with their antics (well, most of the time he’d just put on his headphones or share an earbud with Kagami as the other three playfully quarrelled, Adrien desperately attempting to play peacemaker).</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, get your butt off the couch Alya and start helping. I’m going to put these in the kitchen for now,” Marinette announced, picking up the tray from the coffee table and heading for the kitchen.</p><p>For a brief, almost euphoric moment, Chloe Bourgeois lived in a world where she had not, in fact, made a tragedy of her kitchen.</p><p>A very brief moment.</p><p>“Nino and I will work on the rooftop décor, Chloe are you good to work on—Marinette?”</p><p>“I-I…”</p><p>Chloe looked up from sorting through the paper decorations box to see Marinette standing stock-still in the kitchen doorway, just as confused as the other two before realisation hit.</p><p>“Oh no!” She shrieked, leaping over the table and knocking the box over to place herself between the girl and the kitchen. In hindsight, not that it made a difference, considering she’d seen everything already. Marinette was still staring over her shoulder, her eyes wide with disbelief. “I can explain!” Chloe blurted, almost wishing the ground could swallow her—or even Marinette or all of them—up as if that would stop this.</p><p>Marinette blinked out of her reverie, a shaky, polite smile on her face. “Yes..?”</p><p>Alya and Nino appeared behind her, looking over Chloe’s shoulder into what they could see of the kitchen. Which was enough, if their utter shock was anything to go by.</p><p>“I… tried to make that orange tart I said I would make,” Chloe began, shoulders slumping as she stepped to the side to let them in. “And as you can <em>see</em>,” She spat out bitterly, “it did work out well.” If it was anyone else, the way the three stared at her kitchen as if it was an eighth wonder of the world might have made her laugh. But it was not anyone else; it was her, Chloe, and as much as she wanted to laugh in the absurdity of it all, she simply couldn’t. “It’s not entirely my fault,” She started, “the website said it was an easy recipe but they definitely lied. I might just get daddy to sue them, of course. It’s horrible, lying like that…” She trailed off as she realised how ridiculous she sounded, finally accepting the fact that she was just not good at baking and there was no one else to blame.</p><p>“This looks like a warzone,” Alya whispered, getting a nudge from her boyfriend as she apologetically winced. “N-not that warzones are bad! Wait, that sounds bad—I mean they can look nice—I think? Okay, definitely not but—” She clamped her mouth shut at a look from Marinette, gingerly glancing at Chloe.</p><p>“It’s not all bad! We got the stuff from Marinette’s bakery right?” Nino tried, a hopeful grin on his face.</p><p>It was not necessarily the best thing to say, not to Chloe at least. Of course they had other food and of course the tart hadn’t been a <em>necessity </em>but she’d wanted to make it for Kagami herself, wanted it to be something from her. The same way Marinette bakes and designs for Adrien and Adrien supports her fashion design in every way he can. The same way Alya makes playlists and sings for Nino and Nino covers for her when she’s unavailable to get a journalism scoop.</p><p>Sure, Chloe wasn’t short on gifts herself; she could afford and get virtually anything Kagami wanted, but that wasn’t worth much when it was so, so easy to do.</p><p>A pair of hands landed on her shoulders and she looked up into Marinette’s blue eyes, pure determination blazing in them. “Don’t give up yet, Chloe. You can still make it in time.”</p><p>She blinked, mouth parted in surprise before she frowned. “You don’t have to lie, Marinette,” She muttered, “I get you want to comfort me but—”</p><p>“I’m absolutely not comforting you,” Marinette interrupted, Chloe recoiling at just how harsh the words sounded coming from the Marinette Dupain-Cheng. “This is a mess, but it doesn’t mean it’s all lost. You already have the dough. Working fast enough will get it done. But only if you’re willing to keep up,” Marinette said, giving her a hard stare.</p><p>“Alya and I can finish up the decorations ourselves. It won’t take long anyway,” Nino piped up, Alya nodding.</p><p>“You two just finish it up. If anything, we can distract the other two long enough anyway,” She added, the both of them giving an encouraging smile and leaving the kitchen to start working.</p><p>Chloe looked back at Marinette, this time holding her stare. She nodded, more determined than ever to prove herself—just as determined as the first time Ladybug had offered the Bee miraculous to her.</p><p>“Good.” Marinette smiled, going to wash her hands to start. “Move the laptop to the living room. We’ll use this counter since cleaning up everything else will take too long. We just won’t let Kagami or Adrien in here. I think I know how to make an orange tart so we don’t need a recipe—you’ll just have to listen to what I say and do it, so in the end, it’ll still be <em>your </em>tart,” Marinette continued, momentarily thinking about the technicality of it all. “Ready?”</p><p>“Yes,” Chloe answered immediately as she picked up the laptop, Marinette’s intensity so jarringly new to her. She’d witnessed it before (Nino’s surprise birthday party for his seventeenth had met some technical difficulties and Marinette had stepped up to direct everyone so impossibly well that no one would have thought anything had been amiss), but it had never been solely directed at <em>her</em>. There was a strange feeling of wanting to prove herself, something she’d only really ever felt with Ladybug, and before dating her, with Kagami.</p><p>Coming back into the kitchen to see the equipment set up and the dough already formed into a ball, Chloe couldn’t help but think how wonderful it felt to have such good friends.</p><p>For once, it wasn’t the first time she’d had that thought.</p><p>
  <b>
    <em>Later…</em>
  </b>
</p><p>“I’ll take the dishes to the kitchen then,” Kagami offered, a chorus of nods and agreement coming from the other five, all of them preoccupied with either cleaning up the party decorations off the floor or taking it down. The sun was starting to set, the long hours of their celebration feeling far too short after countless board games, conversations, and slices of tart.</p><p>The first person to react was Nino, stopping in his movements to watch Kagami disappear inside. “Did you guys fix up the kitchen?” He asked into the comfortable silence. Instantly, the mood changed, straight into frantic energy.</p><p>“Kagami wait!” Marinette called out, leaving a bewildered Adrien as his three friends all scrambled to the door, Chloe beating them all in her panic.</p><p>“Oh no, not again.” Alya winced as, once more, a chair Chloe could care less about got knocked over.</p><p>Chloe froze in the kitchen entrance as she watched Kagami’s shoulders start to shake ever so slightly. She walked closer, trying to push down the squeezing feeling of embarrassment before a soft laugh bubbled out of her girlfriend’s mouth.</p><p>“So that’s what you meant when you said the first attempt didn’t go so well,” Kagami mused, looking at Chloe with a fond smile.</p><p>She flushed, crossing her arms and looking away. “Well—no, but what matters is the final product anyway. You-you did like it, right?” Chloe glanced at her, still nervous that perhaps Kagami was just being nice—that they were all just being nice about how much they’d liked the tart.</p><p>“Yes,” She answered, putting the plates down on the sliver of space left on the counter. Coming over to give her a kiss on the cheek, she added, “I wouldn’t lie if I didn’t like it, Chloe. I loved it. I’d love to learn how you make it,” Kagami said casually. “I’d like that as much as eating the tart.”</p><p>Feeling like an immense weight had lifted from her chest, Chloe smiled back. She let out a relieved laugh, waving her hand. “I… would like that too,” She finally said. </p>
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